Blackpool Airport Managing Director Steve Peters (pictured) has ruled out a return to commercial flights at the local facility. Talking to ‘The Lead’ Mr Peters says that even the restoration of regional passenger routes to destinations such as Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man remains a few years away.
Owned by Blackpool Council, Blackpool Airport is instead shaping itself into the preferred option for high-worth individuals who arrive in their corporate jets for business meetings across Lancashire and the North West. This corporate market is one of the main drivers of the airport’s success with business owners and executives preferring Blackpool over neighbours Manchester and Liverpool because it can offer more discretion, it is convenient for the motorway network and there are no slot constraints or limitations on parking aircraft.
Today, there are also five pilot training operators on the airport site, a busy offshore helicopter terminal, and a company poised to base its corporate aircraft at Blackpool.
Mt Peters told ‘The Lead’, ‘The brutal reality of airport economics doesn’t stack up for Blackpool in terms of the return of large-scale commercial operations. So we are cutting our cloth accordingly and looking at small-scale regional scheduled domestic flights within the UK and across to Ireland and the Isle of Man. But that is four to five years away.’
The good news is that previously the airport had to close to traffic because of shortages in key areas such as the training and recruitment of air traffic controllers and recruitment of firefighters. These have now been resolved, and consequently the airport now offers reliable air space with 40,000 movements a year.
Fylde Council has approved the plans for new office buildings including a passenger handling facility for up to 45 people, to be hopefully built by spring 2025 (see: https://www.lythamstannes.news/news/new-passenger-handling-facility-at-blackpool-airport-set-to-take-off/). Although plans to build a vast solar farm on part of the site will mean the loss of the smaller of the airport’s two runways, Mr Peters reiterates there is no threat to the main 1.8km runway.
In his interview with ‘The Lead’ Mr Peters added, ‘There is no threat to the main runway and it won’t be shortened either. It can take the Airbus A320 family of aircraft which carry up to 180 passengers. And we will be seeing the Red Arrows back next year as their base for the Southport Air Show. They didn’t use us this year due to the weather forecast but we have resolved that!
‘As a team, we are confident we are heading in the right direction. We have set out our 10-year plan to the shareholder (Blackpool Council) and we are starting to deliver on that. And that is instilling confidence in our shareholder and our customers.
‘None of this is going to just land on our doorstep. We are going out to find the opportunities and then delivery can take a long time. But it is worth it.
‘All our team is working very hard to achieve this and we are all invested in the success of this airport. The next biggest steps going forward will be the development of airport east which includes the new air traffic control tower and fire facility.’
